Member Contributer Dutchy Posted September 29, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted September 29, 2014 aka Chichi Honda watashi wa tsumi o okashita or What dumb stuff you done to/with your VFR that you are not ashamed to share? So that others may learn... "the cap that goes on top of the spark plug..." As posted prior the front left spark plug was loose. so I also checked the other ones and buttoned the bike up. Last week joined a VFR ride, some 500km in total, bike ran great. Someone did comment though that my exhaust smelled of fuel. Last weekend we had the VFR "wrench day" where some had offered to bring their Carb-Tune to sync the carbs, and if that would not solve it, a member (who owns a garage) offered to hook her up to an exhaust gas analyser. Took off part of her clothes and see the embarrassed smile on my face.... Yes folks, the lead from the coil had the end with the cap hanging beside the bike........ Egg on Face... Thing is, she ran and accelerated fine, the change in exhaust note I had put down to the Akra maybe needing a repack.... The carbs were subsequently synced; good to go now... So cough up, who's next..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 This.. thought i could get away with rebuilding only one front brake calliper (that was jammed) and thought the other was fine. It Started sticking so i took it for a little test in the street (note - civilian attire no leather jacket) The worst thing was i said to myself a bit before this "yep its definitely grabbing hard" and had a sluggish return and im like "better turn round and go back home and get the tools out!!" ... and WHAM oh well.. egg on my face Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer dalesvfr Posted September 29, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted September 29, 2014 Chain oil flung onto center stand tang. Foot slips. Bike goes boom. Paint can on garage floor. Dented gas tank. Tank bra. Life goes on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Africord Posted September 29, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted September 29, 2014 Take off on a 500 mile trip, right after an oil change. Stop to eat, find a puddle of oil under the bike. Guess I should tighten the filter, huh. Never lost pressure, so I roll over to a parts store, tighten the filter, top it off and move on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer vanion2 Posted September 29, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted September 29, 2014 When removing the evap cannister when I first got the VFR way back when I accidentally disconnected a vacuum line. I spent 2 days trouble shooting it and then jumped on the board where within 5 minutes someone here told me to check my lines again. Fixed and running 20 minutes later. Yep. Lesson learned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Conedodger Posted September 29, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted September 29, 2014 Changed the oil in my Nighthawk S, in the dark, in a parking lot. Fired it up and oil was spewing from the filter connection. Seems the old filter gasket was stuck to the motor when I put the new filter on. Had to clean the oil drain pan, drain the fresh oil, remove the new filter to take the extra gasket off, and then figure out how to get the fresh oil that was in the pan back in to the bike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer YoshiHNS Posted September 29, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted September 29, 2014 Syncing starter valves for CC at TMAC at night. Couldn't get them synced right. Every time I would adjust one cylinder, a different cylinder would change and the one I was changing wouldn't. Check the manometer. Had the measuring end rotated 180 degrees. Read 4-1 instead of 1-4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Polarbear Posted September 30, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted September 30, 2014 Oh Dutchy! What are we gonna do with you? Well, when one must, one must. Where to start?!? Decided this summer to trailer the bike to get to a vacation spot with the wife and family. The plan was to ride the bike early in the morning while everyone is sleeping every morning--get up with the sun and then come back and have breakfast with the family and vacation the way we should, swimming, go boating, go tubing, etc. (not my condo nor my boat, just the brother and sister-in-law). Otherwise, I would not get to ride much this summer at all. In any case, I get the trailer, strap her up, and take off. We do the usual stops for bathroom with little ones and to get coffee for the first 2-3 hours of the trip. I check the straps every chance i get, all is ok. Then, we stop for grocery shopping for the 4 day vacation, and I see the straps, because they were leaning on the fairing before reaching to some hooks in the front corners of the trailer, are pushed in and stick out by about 1/4 inch. Sunofa... Sigh. I change the location of the straps for the rest of the trip and the way home. To this day, they have yet to be fixed--hoping it's only the brackets that are bent-, it's on the list of things to do for the winter projects. Lessons learned: a. Honda's fairings are not strong as steel! b. do not trailer your bike--when you don't know what you're doing, just ride the thing to destination (or let your wife go by herself with the family, but then get ready to sleep in the doghouse for a while!!)! Did I ever tell you guys about the one time I forgot to remove the disk lock before i took off? Or when I put the primary drive (?) gear back in the wrong way only to crack the brand new clutch cover with a clear window on it from Seb when I tightened it up??? Never mind... C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Blesk Posted September 30, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted September 30, 2014 Bright and early at a track day....... Walk up to my trusty SV650, turn the key (mind you at this point I'm standing to the right of the bike), oh so nonchalantly take my right pointer finger and push the little start button. WHAM! Oops, I forgot to make sure he was in neutral first. FACEPALM! Note to self: Don't do anything with the bikes before coffee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer MaxSwell Posted September 30, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted September 30, 2014 While working on my fifth gen I needed to move it a little out of the way. Moved it off the center stand and Wham! No back wheel! I still have the palm print on my forehead. Any one else go to leave a curb after parking, let out the clutch and Wham! I'm on the ground. Bike was left in second gear and stalled as soon as I leaned it over. In front of a group of HD pirates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Ultimatevfr Posted September 30, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted September 30, 2014 No signals ,check fuse, spend next two hours taking fairings off ,checking connections, solder said connections again, check bulbs, clean sockets, check grounds,rewire aftermarket Mirrors with led turns,pull hair out,finally realize fuse for horn/signals is THIRD fuse in from left ,not second . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer LangoPTC Posted October 1, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted October 1, 2014 When I first got the bike I used my rear stand with a galvanized pipe through the axle to raise the bike so that I could do chain maintenance (before I figured out how to use the centerstand). Apparently, while spinning the wheel, the metal from the stand scraped up against the wheel so now I have a nice circular scrape in the wheel that I cover with a black magic marker. But an even better one involved the first oil change on the new car. 150 mile round trip by the wife and oil spots in various places on the garage floor the next day I came to the brilliant conclusion something was amiss. Some idiot (who shall remain nameless) forgot to put the oil filler cap back on. Hood insulating pad covered in oil. After spending $8 at the car wash trying to wash the pad clean I came to the conclusion the pad was a lost cause. $45 for two 5 qt Mobil 1 jugs $15 for two purolator oil filters $85 for new hood insulating pad $8 @ car wash Most expensive oil change to date... last thing before closing the hood is make sure the oil cap and dipstick are in place and secure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Rush2112 Posted October 1, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted October 1, 2014 Decide to ride my bike into the plant since the weather was still nice and the number of riding days were getting short... 4:30 AM roll the bike out of the garage and into the drive to fire her up, leave it on the side stand while warming up and don my gear... get a weird sense of vertigo like I'm slowly falling backwards... come to sudden realization that... oh yeah, my driveway is sloped and that is my bike rolling off the side stand to land on it's side on my brick surrounding my rose bushes... duh, Funny thing is the touch up paint looks like egg on my fairing... so fitting for the topic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Dutchy Posted October 1, 2014 Author Member Contributer Share Posted October 1, 2014 Thanks so far, keep up the good work!!! Here's one for 4th gen and earlier models................. When removing the clutch cover The little axle (part 2) will probably be stuck inside the cover and will thus be pulled out. No drama, but DO NOT forget that a washer (#11) might drop to the floor... Otherwise you end up buttoning up your bike and -if you are lucky like me- just spot this little washer that rolled under you bike..... So you can take the cover off once more and fit it... (phew... ) So now you know why I will not do the brakes myself...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer MaxSwell Posted October 1, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted October 1, 2014 So THAT'S where that washer came from. I'm going to have to take another look behind that cover. Thanks Leon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thx113 Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 I dragged my 81 CB750 (DOHC with a nice stainless 4:1 system, now owned for more than 31 years) out of the shed while doing a big clean up and reorganization. She had not been started for five or six years so I had no idea if she would still run but I decided what the hell, I will give it a go. Hooked bike up to big external battery, turned fuel on, primed carbs (the legendary process or blowing the bikes auto fuel cock - sounds even worse when put this way), and tried to start it. Working from the left side of the bike I pulled the aircleaner cover off and the aircleaner out. With the help of aerostart I have at it. Bike turned over, sort of fired, then seemed to fire and began to run for a few seconds but sounded strangely muted. The engine would run for a few seconds then just fade away. I spent 5-10 minutes at this frustrating task before deciding that it was probably bent valves and nothing further could be gained until I did a full rebuild. Bitterly disappointed I walked around the back of the bike to pull the battery leads and put her back in the shed. Hanging from the back of the bike was the "remove before flight" tag attached to the orange exhaust plug still firmly embedded in the muffler. After following the instruction on the tag, the bike fired up instantly and ran perfectly (even idling nicely) despite sitting for six years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Olive Posted October 2, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted October 2, 2014 Just before a trip I changed the oil and overfilled it a little. Since I didn't have anything appropriate to siphon the oil out of the bike I decided to drain a little out of the bottom. I figured if I drained too much I could pour it back in as long as I was using a clean container. And I was going to be careful, so there was no need to change out of my work clothing for a quick 30 second job. I positioned a clean Yogurt container under the drain plug and carefully removed it. It slipped out of my hands and fell in the yogurt container which was rapidly filling with oil. I plunged my hand into the container and withdrew my prize... which squirted out of my fingers bouncing just out of reach on the driveway. I stuck my thumb in the drain hole in an effort to plug the hole to keep from losing any more oil. That worked. However the street was empty and there was no one to give me a hand. It was an impasse between myself and the oil. Keeping my thumb in place I stretched out reaching with my foot and tried to snag the drain plug, but only managed to kick it off the driveway into the grass. Part of this classic move involved knocking over the full Yogurt container and spilling fresh oil all over the driveway. I looked at the regular oil drain container that was sitting a few feet away. I pulled my thumb out of the drain hole and sprinted for the oil drain container, and sprinted back. To add insult to injury I was able to throw it under the bike to catch the last dribble of oil as it drained out of the bike. Back to the store to pick up more oil. I topped up the bike again... and overfilled it a second time. (At least I was consistent). I threw up my hands and decided to leave good enough alone. Both myself and my driveway were coated in oil - but on the bright side my bike had received a complete oil flush using new oil. Lots of oil on my hands, my work clothes and my face (it went well with the egg). Moral(s) of the Story: There is no such thing as carefully draining a few tablespoons of oil out of the bike. Always drain into a full oil catch basin.There is no such thing as a quick job where you can keep clean. Murphy will have a good laugh at your expense whenever possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Dutchy Posted October 2, 2014 Author Member Contributer Share Posted October 2, 2014 So THAT'S where that washer came from. I'm going to have to take another look behind that cover. Thanks Leon. The 5th Gens do not have a washer in that area, it is only part # 2 and #3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer MaxSwell Posted October 2, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted October 2, 2014 ^^^ Thanks Leon. One less thing to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wera803 Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Just before a trip I changed the oil and overfilled it a little. Since I didn't have anything appropriate to siphon the oil out of the bike I decided to drain a little out of the bottom. I figured if I drained too much I could pour it back in as long as I was using a clean container. And I was going to be careful, so there was no need to change out of my work clothing for a quick 30 second job. I positioned a clean Yogurt container under the drain plug and carefully removed it. It slipped out of my hands and fell in the yogurt container which was rapidly filling with oil. I plunged my hand into the container and withdrew my prize... which squirted out of my fingers bouncing just out of reach on the driveway. I stuck my thumb in the drain hole in an effort to plug the hole to keep from losing any more oil. That worked. However the street was empty and there was no one to give me a hand. It was an impasse between myself and the oil. Keeping my thumb in place I stretched out reaching with my foot and tried to snag the drain plug, but only managed to kick it off the driveway into the grass. Part of this classic move involved knocking over the full Yogurt container and spilling fresh oil all over the driveway. I looked at the regular oil drain container that was sitting a few feet away. I pulled my thumb out of the drain hole and sprinted for the oil drain container, and sprinted back. To add insult to injury I was able to throw it under the bike to catch the last dribble of oil as it drained out of the bike. Back to the store to pick up more oil. I topped up the bike again... and overfilled it a second time. (At least I was consistent). I threw up my hands and decided to leave good enough alone. Both myself and my driveway were coated in oil - but on the bright side my bike had received a complete oil flush using new oil. Lots of oil on my hands, my work clothes and my face (it went well with the egg). Moral(s) of the Story: There is no such thing as carefully draining a few tablespoons of oil out of the bike. Always drain into a full oil catch basin.There is no such thing as a quick job where you can keep clean. Murphy will have a good laugh at your expense whenever possible. Ever think about putting a Fumoto valve on the bike? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Dutchy Posted October 2, 2014 Author Member Contributer Share Posted October 2, 2014 FU moto is what Olive was shouting all of the time..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Polarbear Posted October 3, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted October 3, 2014 This keep getting better. Olive, I think yours takes the cake. And I say that only because you had time to weigh your options before you decided voluntarily to let the oil drip on the ground. I have made messes with oil and it is a bad feeling since it is so hard to clean and you feel bad about the environment. Cheers, C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridered Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 Just before a trip I changed the oil and overfilled it a little. Since I didn't have anything appropriate to siphon the oil out of the bike I decided to drain a little out of the bottom. I figured if I drained too much I could pour it back in as long as I was using a clean container. And I was going to be careful, so there was no need to change out of my work clothing for a quick 30 second job. I positioned a clean Yogurt container under the drain plug and carefully removed it. It slipped out of my hands and fell in the yogurt container which was rapidly filling with oil. I plunged my hand into the container and withdrew my prize... which squirted out of my fingers bouncing just out of reach on the driveway. I stuck my thumb in the drain hole in an effort to plug the hole to keep from losing any more oil. That worked. However the street was empty and there was no one to give me a hand. It was an impasse between myself and the oil. Keeping my thumb in place I stretched out reaching with my foot and tried to snag the drain plug, but only managed to kick it off the driveway into the grass. Part of this classic move involved knocking over the full Yogurt container and spilling fresh oil all over the driveway. I looked at the regular oil drain container that was sitting a few feet away. I pulled my thumb out of the drain hole and sprinted for the oil drain container, and sprinted back. To add insult to injury I was able to throw it under the bike to catch the last dribble of oil as it drained out of the bike. Back to the store to pick up more oil. I topped up the bike again... and overfilled it a second time. (At least I was consistent). I threw up my hands and decided to leave good enough alone. Both myself and my driveway were coated in oil - but on the bright side my bike had received a complete oil flush using new oil. Lots of oil on my hands, my work clothes and my face (it went well with the egg). Moral(s) of the Story: There is no such thing as carefully draining a few tablespoons of oil out of the bike. Always drain into a full oil catch basin.There is no such thing as a quick job where you can keep clean. Murphy will have a good laugh at your expense whenever possible. I did more or less the same thing once if that makes you feel better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridered Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 When I first got the bike, I was backing it out of the garage to ride to work. Normally I back it into the walk because my driveway is slopped too much. For some reason I couldn't roll it on the walk (I think the garden hose was piled up there) so I left it on the drive thinking it would be fine while it warmed up and I got my helmet. Bike fell over on the right side. Feel like an idiot and have the wife help me stand it back up. Flustered and not thinking I leave the bike in neutral, on the side stand pointed down hill on the drive way. Bike rolls forward off the side stand and falls over on the left side, bending the clutch lever. Put the bike back in the garage, remove all the gear and drive to work. But the best story involves my truck and a job. I was laid off in 2009. There couldn't be a worse time to loose a job, so it took me a year to find a new job. Had to sell my house in Seattle and move in with my parents with my wife and daughter. Humiliating. Now, I'm not whining about it, life happens, but some back ground is needed. Well, I finally land a great job I really wanted in San Diego, so things seem great. They wanted me to start right away, so they put me and my family up in a hotel right next to work. For some reason, I drive to work from next door. First day is typical, filling out paper work, orientation etc. I get in my truck to go home, and back out of my space, and bam! I hit something. I start hearing a whooshing sound and think I must have hit a sprinkler. I pull forward, and see a massive fountain forming. Turns out it was a fire hydrant. Created a 40 foot tall geyser of water taller than the 2 story factory. Two latter trucks, the police and fire chief show up. I'm mortified. I think I'm getting fired for sure. Wife hears all the sirens drive by and I don't show up after work. I didn't have a cell phone at the time to call her, so she is freaking out. Takes 30 minutes to shut the water off. Finally I go to the hotel terrified I'll be fired the next day. When I get to work the next morning my cube is decorated with no parking signs and fire hydrants. Someone took video and emailed it to the entire company welcoming the new guy (me). It was my first day of work after all. Egg on face. I still work there, and it has been almost 5 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer ggathagan Posted October 3, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted October 3, 2014 Did I ever tell you guys about the one time I forgot to remove the disk lock before i took off? That's my EOF story. Bought one when I had my 4th gen and about a month afterwards forgot about it. On the bright side, the wave rotors I bought were a nice brake upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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